Kingdom Hearts: Storm Front
by Kingdom Infinite
Summary: After receiving a very strange dream one night, Ash will soon come to realize his dream was real and he was destined to be a Keyblade Wielder. When shadowy creatures known as the Heartless invades his world and sends him on an epic journey with his friends. They'll meet some interesting faces along the way as they save the many worlds from Organization XIII's grasp.
1. Dive to your Heart's Light!

**Disclaimer ~ All rights to 'Kingdom Hearts' and 'Pokémon' are reserved to their respected owners, along with any of the characters from other fandoms appearing throughout this story aren't mine either. I do so happen to own the Keyblades and whatever else is original in my books, but not the cover image to this story.**

**Author's Note ~ Finally! The moment you've all been waiting for is here! The first chapter to what I like to call the greatest rewrite to my previous one, 'Kingdom Hearts: The Traversing Thunderbolt'. Well, I think so. Anyway, I want to apologize to you all in advanced for the long wait. It was due to not only writer's block, but also due to laziness, perfectionist attitude, real life, and other fanfics I'm writing on, or plan to write on in the future. And also the month of December is gonna be tight for me on this year of 2013, but I'll spare you on the details for the sake of this note getting back on track.**

**Anyways, I want to apologize again but to the ones who were looking forward for 'Kingdom Hearts: The Traversing Thunderbolt'. I know all of you were excited to see what went down with our unlikely Keyblade hero, Ash. But don't you worry; this rewrite of mine will be the same as before, but with some cool new elements and being a whole lot better. I can promise you; this one will stay on for sure if my brain won't turn on me again.**

**One last thing before I start off this chapter, I want to give thanks to one of my close friends, KHLegacy, for helping me out on this story's title. I believe the one I used to use was way too long for my own liking, and not to mention not interesting and bland. It needs to be shortened up to an easy to understand title, and this one will do just that. So thanks a lot for the help, dudette. Anyhoo, why don't we head off to the first chapter to let you guys and gals see what goes on.**

_A bright flash of white lit up the screen before dissipating away to reveal a puddle of deep blue. Rain fell on it lightly from unseen clouds to cause a ripple effect, only for the winds to start picking up and ripple the water even more. A flash of lightning occurred in the clouds seen on the puddle's reflection, along with a low rumble of thunder coming off in the distance as the words._

**Kingdom Hearts: Storm Front**

_Came up on the puddle's surface in stylized letters of gleaming silver, another flash of lightning and rumble of thunder occurred twice, before it all went dark a second later from another flash._

**CHAPTER 1: Ash's Awakening, Dive to your Heart's Light!**

As light as a Pidove's feather, a raven-haired boy around the age limit of sixteen was going down head first in the realm of sleep. A familiar place for anyone lucky enough to catch a glimpse of their greatest fantasies and goals they pursue so much, twisting it up to eleven and becoming imaginative dreams instead. This dream in particular wasn't the usual one for the teenager in question to have on one of his peaceful nights, either at home, or on the open road with friends. This one wasn't about him becoming the greatest Pokémon Master in the whole wide world of Pokétopia, his star world, but of something entirely new for his sights to behold.

Ash Ketchum was descending down in a world filled to the brim with oceanic water, Prussian blue in color, as far as the eye could see. It seemed endless for miles ahead. Bubbles spraying on out of his sinking form as to how far he went down in this abyss. He steadily blinked his pair of brown eyes when fairing off with the walls of dark liquid encircling him, like as if he couldn't believe himself on being trapped in an ocean of pure, unadulterated emptiness. Not a single drop of marine life was seen in his somewhat watery vision, besides himself and his newly acquired bubble buddies.

It was funny on how that this strange dream of the young prodigy was projecting a crude coincidence like this, for he and his two closest friends in all of Unova, Iris and Cilan, were on a luxury liner in the middle of the wide open ocean, setting sail for a brand new adventure in the Decolore Islands, which connected with both the regions of Unova and Kanto.

The last one of his adventures to take place with his friends, before he must return back home to the Kanto region and his hometown of Pallet, without ever getting to see the two of them, or their Pokémon, along with baby-minded Axew included, ever again.

Unless certain circumstances arise these days, Ash wished in his warm heart for this journey to the several islands of Decolore, would patch up a longer stay with his two Unovian friends.

But nevertheless, he felt utterly helpless in this mysterious place of a dream. He couldn't move a single inch of his body, nor even control the muscles in his mouth to speak out a single syllable. It was as if he was paralyzed in the very nervous system from an unsuspecting blast of Thunderwave, from an electric-type Pokémon, or something else related to a Pokémon able to cause sudden numbness with a simple attack, or ability. But it couldn't be true on believing such a silly thing. The boy would of have felt the electric-type attack if it had struck him any time soon, and the Kantonian would have snapped himself awake if his partner Pokémon, Pikachu, have done it in the first place to him.

And yet it was completely out of character for the furry rodent to be.

Ash's best friend in the whole wide world wouldn't do such a crazy thing to him; he changed for the better from the very first day they met at Professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town. Their friendship may have been rocky at first with harsh hostilities on Pikachu's end, before blossoming to one brighter than the stars in the night sky, after the dreaded incident with a pack of wild, enraged Spearows, which caused the good friendship to slowly take form with each passing day. Up until now, when it was a prime beast of a buddy-buddy relationship, it was as if he and his starter Pokémon were long lost brothers of sorts.

Sure, the electric-type Pokémon would fire off a stray bolt, or two, of electricity at him but with only good intentions on his mind, or maybe just for the heck of things. But he would never ever use an electric-type attack on him for reasons to inflict serious harm, and give him a one-way ticket to the hospital for numbed body parts.

Ash knew it would break the mouse's heart if he pulled off a nasty stunt like that on his beloved master.

But all the while for this experience, the Chosen One of Lugia felt serenely calm in this place for some odd reason, like as if he wasn't about to die, or anything of the sorts to cause him any bodily harm. He knew death doesn't concede with a dream or even a nightmare to reality. And so forth, the teenager calmly went ahead with what's going on with him, feeling his dark cyan hair and nighttime attire, which consisted mostly of a Celeste t-shirt and a pair of teal shorts with Tiffany Blue rims, fluttering loosely with the unknown breeze that he is receiving so far.

Five seconds of momentarily drifting down in perpetual watery darkness later...

Ash abruptly spotted the bubbles around him slowing down in intensity and momentum. He felt his entire body turning around as if he was an hourglass, his exposed feet touching down on terra firma safely, only with an added surprise. Just as the entire area went black as ink to not resemble the ocean, the boy had his back brought down by gravity's pull on his landing; he got a very good look of where he was standing on. The raven-haired prodigy widened his eyes with surprise at what he was seeing before him. He was so surprised that his throat felt dry from gasping out a single word, even if it is impossible to do so when being silent in here. The floor was really plain ol' darkness that made up solid ground for him; it was as black as the walls surrounding him and the ceiling.

But honestly the Pokémon Trainer of Pallet Town couldn't be afraid of this sight at all; for one thing he knew that this was considered natural in a world of endless fantasies. It was rather simple dream logic to stand on nothingness, or feeling no pain when stepping on a flaming bed of poison-tipped needles. Unless this is a nightmare zone and he wasn't really on anywhere safe to begin with, considering he will now be as screwed as a helpless Psyduck, ready to plummet to his soon to be demise of his own unexpected carelessness.

Ash started to think back on the time when he, and his previous traveling companions, paid a visit to the town of Alamos, for one of Dawn's Pokémon contests. He could think back at the time when he was sent to the Dream World by one of those frightening, obsidian bubbles caused, solely by accident, by the nightmare master, Darkrai, who could turn anyone's dreams into their worst nightmares. But this was none of the dark-type Pokémon's doings, since the one in Alamos Town was kind-hearted, and that any of the existing Darkrais were far away from the Unova region.

But throwing caution to the winds of fear and anxiety, the teenager took a brave step on standing up straight and tall on this bizarre floorboard, and he thankfully found out that it was safe and secure, like any other surface worth standing your own two pair of feet on.

'_What a relief._' Ash thought calmly as he gave himself a short sigh. "Huh." He was relieved on what he first thought of this place being a nightmare was bunked out to be not true. The Kantonian gave himself a good look over and to his vast surroundings from the current spot he was on the floor, before doing something completely irrational as he is in his childish mind. He started to flail and stomp his limbs around and about to test them out, even careening his neck from left and right for added effect. '_Yep, I can move myself again, and I can think too. But that's a stupid thought to think of. And I did hear myself sigh just a minute ago, so..._'

Wasting no time in this dream of his, the raven-haired boy soon took a deep breath and waited for only five seconds to pass, before shouting out the very first thing that came forth in his cerebral cortex.

"MINNESOTA!"

The sound of the sixteen-year-old boy's voice was bounding off of the invisible walls of darkness, like an echo frequency inside a deep dark cavern, or a room void of nothing but only an empty space. After that the sound slowly dimmed out, he took a simple step forward on the dark floor, only for him to back away in a single leap on his own two feet instead.

It seemingly happened out of nowhere with no imminent warning whatsoever.

The ebony floor had suddenly sparked itself to life in a bright light; a disc-shaped sphere of chartreuse penetrated the area from where it must have been the dead center, before expanding forth on the surface in its lustrous glow in a circular fashion. The darkness literally ripped itself apart like it was made of tissue paper when the light grew with size. The ripped pieces of paper morphed into something entirely feathery and familiar to the teen. He couldn't even believe his eyes on what he was seeing as he let loose a soft gasp of awe.

"Whoa!"

They were none other than Pidoves.

The paper had actually turned into Pidoves, native flying-type Pokémon of the region of Unova, only these ones were as white as fresh snow on the first day of winter, but from head to toe, and even to their pair of eyes of all places were even sterile white. The young prodigy was so awestruck by the transformation of the paper pieces becoming pure holy-colored doves; he didn't seem to take any notice of the floor giving off a natural fluorescent glow of red, orange, gold, and some other third colors too.

"Pidoves." Ash mused lightly to himself as he watched the amazing spectacle before his sights. The last traces of the bleached flying-type Pokémon were seen flapping off in the direction of the dark walls, and merging with the surrounding darkness in that almost endless distance, like as if they went right through a blockade that was, not seen by his point of view.

And right then at that very moment, the teenager of Pallet took his sights off of the dark sky and stamped them down on the ground below, and gave yet another step back as he gasped even louder than before.

"WHOA!"

His voice ricocheting off of the walls yet again, but what he saw was both amazing and strange at the same time. The Pokémon Trainer was standing on top of a circular platform made of stained-glass, like the windows that was found built for religious buildings, such as churches and cathedrals. But it maintained a form of solidity to begin with, like when he first found himself on that black floorboard.

The mural was mostly bathed in a maroon color; an auburn color was seen on a set of jointed egg-shaped ovals, mimicking the two leaves found on a young sapling. Ebony lines either thick or thin were etched across the surface; one of them was giving off the faded appearance of white with obsidian borders instead. The lines depicted of circles in both great and small variety, while the ones closer to the edge of the glass were of smooth-looking rectangles, one of them being wide enough to house a row of smaller, golden-colored spheres. The other rectangles held on the sapling-like ovals, which gave off a pattern around the glass' borders, like anywhere else as well, but minus a few certain places. The borders were decked off with thin rectangles, one being in the color of scarlet, while the other is an orange peel color instead. The medium-sized circle was set off on the left side of the glass floor to showcase the seven, smaller orbs of deep red to the world. It was checkered off with zigzags of crimson and pearl on the borders of the medium circle, but the color of gold with faded speckles of the same white was seen on its dead center, as a strange depiction of the moon only partly hidden by the seven circles.

But the various images smacked upon the circular platform's spheres were the most staggering and interesting part to see on this fine piece of stained-glass. Especially on how most of them were rekindling old flames for Ash Ketchum, that were mostly forgotten by time itself being elapsed over with each and every passing year.

"Whoa!" Ash gasped out softly with serene awe in his voice. "Talk about a trip down memory lane."

On the right side of the glass surface's largest circle, that was close to him was of, ironically, himself, only with his eyes, or the only one visible enough to see, closed shut and was leaning in peacefully, as if he was floating in a dream, but only frozen in time from being made out of glass.

The mural's persona of the Kantonian was wearing the same clothes that he wore when being in the Unova region. His right hand was pressing down on his clothed chest where his tender heart would be found. And holding tightly in his left palm is the GS Ball, an enigmatic PokéBall known to contain a mysterious secret within itself from the time it was forged together.

On the background of the largest circle, which was the only one capable enough of gaining such a incredible feat in design, was of a colored shot of Ash's home taken from an aerial position in the night sky. The seven circles on the medium-sized sphere, which was past his self's glass head on the largest circle, had each one bearing a bright golden image of someone really important in the raven-haired teenager's heart. Six of the seven images on the circles, clocked from the one below and going around to the left side till coming to the one next to it, were of Ash's Pokémon team from the very start of his journey in the Kanto region.

They were none other than Pikachu, Caterpie, Pidgeotto, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle.

The seventh one on the very middle of the six orbs held up the image of the boy's own mother, Delia Ketchum, along with Professor Oak and Misty Waterflower flanking up the older woman's sides. And finally, the small circles close to the borders were of the misshapen 'L' found only on the old Pokémon League cap he wore in the past, but only colored in ebony and not in a dark spring green color.

The entire thing was in a way of a craftsman's finest effort in making a stained-glass mural of such grandeur and grace, for only him to see with his own two pair of eyes. But then something arose in his mind fast enough, like as if he was slapped upside the head just now to remember a few things of his own, mostly on a few questions summoning up in his mind on his dire plight to this dream's development.

'_Okay! Time to ease up on what YOU'RE seeing here, Ash, and just think on what you ARE seeing here._' Ash thought as he slowly got over of his excitement of remembering some familiar faces to get back on track. '_What is this place? Why am I here? Why does this dream feel more than something normal? What is gonna happen to me next? And why am I the only one here and no one else?_'

Ash wouldn't know for sure on the answers to his mind's puzzling questions, but as he took five steps forward to explore forth this new dream world sensation of his. A voice suddenly piped up from seemingly out of nowhere.

_So much to do with so little time._

The Pokémon Trainer of Pallet Town skidded in his movements from hearing that unexpected sound. The voice was male, sounding high-pitched and full of wisdom but nonetheless in a caring tone, and was silent as akin to a eerie whisper to the ears, but it was clearly heard in his head, like someone was speaking to him as of now of all times.

_Take your time. The door to your heart won't open yet._

"The door to my what?!" Ash blurted out all of a sudden, his brown eyes widening from what he just heard the mysterious voice say. He shaked his head from left to right to spat out the cobwebs of nervousness and anxiety on his brain. "What're you going on about? You're not even making any sense!"

_Do not be afraid of what your heart leads you to be._

Ash was now taken aback by this; he could only blink his eyes with confusion and spat out a single word. "Huh?"

_Take a step forward. You can do that right?_

"Of course!" Ash announced with a lack of confidence in his voice, a cloud of doubt was hanging over him as he looked down on his naked feet, already knowing on the fact of standing on a floor of cold glass. "I guess so. But I'll have to try." He swallowed the nervous lump clogging in his throat to get on with it; he slowly took a cautious step forward with his right foot, before flashing a fidgeting smile upon his face, when he saw the sole of his foot touching down on the glassed ground. He choked up with all he could muster on a nervous chuckle. "Ah ha!" But when he slowly let down his whole foot, he jumped back a bit when he saw that glimmers of light appeared above his head in the onyx sky, a gasp lit up his voice. "Whoa!"

Three beams of golden-colored light came searing down from the heavens above, dividing through the mass of darkness and colliding with the stained-glass floor, without breaking the glass apart when making contact. The columns of luminescence stayed where they were before Ash's vision. One was on his left, another on his right, and the last one was right before him. Each one was close enough to the edges of the spherical surface, and was pretty much as thick as a stone pillar found in the Middle Ages.

The radiant beams of light abruptly changed their appearances to balls of light in the same color as how they once were; each one was hovering above the glass mural in only four feet of height level. It was an easy position for the teen to only reach out with his bare hands to grab hold of one of the spheres, especially on how the orbs were high enough to where his eyes must be, where he could easily just stare off at them on how close they were to his initial grasp. They were actually beckoning the sixteen-year-old, raven-haired boy to go forth and grab hold of one of them, or maybe two, in how he saw it in his mind.

Yet the most amazing part of this experience, other than the mural that he was standing on, was about to happen to him right now of all times.

_Power sleeps within your heart._

The ball of light on his right exploded in a flash of white to reveal forth a stunning short sword. It had a shining blade made of silver-colored metal; its hilt was shaped up like an upside down archway and colored in gold, same goes for its dewdrop-shaped pommel. A red circle was pressed upon the center of the sword's hilt, along with a strange obsidian symbol comprised up of three interconnected circles, one being bigger than the others. The handle of the simple sword was colored black with thin, Egyptian blue 'x's crisscrossing over the exterior.

_If you give it time to form._

The light orb on his left ruptured as well in a white flash and, instead of a sword, shown a magnificent shield. It was pentagonal in appearance with the bottom corners of it being rounded in the tip; it was mostly bordered red deep with grey bolts on its corners. The face of the shield is a black olive color, save for the prominent crest on the center of it being the same as the one on the sword's rainguard. The strange symbol on the simple shield was actually colored in the same color as the borders but with a thin, buff outline going around the insignia's form.

_It will give you strength._

The sphere of light before him evaporated lastly in a flash of white like the others, and what it revealed was not a sword or shield, but a mystical staff instead. Its handle was predominantly India green in color with both ends being a light tan with a band of goldenrod accompanying close to its green color. The tip of the handle was a dark brown disc with it being wide in the center, while the top and bottom was not but had thin golden bands. On the top of the disc-shaped protrusion connecting to the elegant staff was a large gem of a Brandeis blue color, the crystal almost smoothly cut up in the same shape, and appearance, as of the ones presented on the sword and shield.

Each one of the magical-looking items of his dream had one thing in common, one thing that makes them to be the same, except for how they look like in appearance wise. All three of them were suspended above the stained-glass floor, from where the orbs once stood, a plethora of what could easily be described as a shimmering wave of golden-colored sand going around the three dream-like weapons. It was as if they were alive, and not being simple particles of powdery gold sand, but moving on their own accord to dance and twirl with either one of the floating representations of war, protection, and the supernatural.

Ash couldn't shake off the sinking feeling in his gut, on how the emblems on each one of these weapons were not just alike, but also of some importance to a bigger role in his life. He somehow had this thought in his mind of it being a head for some kind of unknown Pokémon, one with basically a round head with freakishly huge ears, as same as its head's general shape. But he mentally shook it off for how can there be such a thing alive, no where near on his planet was of a Pokémon with such a round head ever listed in all of mankind, or Pokékind for that matter. Not in either of the regions of Kanto, or Johto, or Hoenn, or Sinnoh, or even Unova, or anywhere else known by the prodigy of Pallet could think of.

"Well...this is new." Ash spoke up when he was able to after the arrival of the three distinct weapons. "Very new, for a dream of mine."

_Choose wisely on your path for the decision is irreversible._

"Irreversible?" Ash croaked up that last word with a rather confused expression upon his face, before gaining back a neutral one as he glanced at the three items.

It was pretty much of a Farfetch'd case to take in.

A sword.

A shield.

A staff.

Which one should he choose?

Grasping hold of the dire situation, the Chosen One of Lugia started to close his brown eyes shut; he placed his left hand on the bridge of his chin, and his right palm grasping hold of his left elbow to secure it. He made sure of it that it wasn't imbalanced from his fleshy load. He started to do something he normally doesn't do when there was no reason, but only done on one of those rarest of occasions.

"Hmm..." Ash started to muse to himself on what he should choose. He slowly went ahead with pacing around and around in his spot to think this through some more. "Okay, sword equals power right? And staff is for magic, while shield is for defense? If this is for some kind of role playing game, I won't pick sword. I'm not much into swordplay for my mom said they can cut your arm off, and I don't see how a shield can save your life if a zombie Pokémon comes and attacks you, so it's out too." Before a second later had passed, he lowered both of the appendages he used for thinking and opened his eyes. "So I guess my only choice would be..."

The boy soon landed his pair of eyes on the slender form of the floating staff, its crystal gemstone seemingly glow an even more vivid shade of blue than before. Smiling to himself in satisfaction, Ash casually walked right up to the mystical staff, and as he got close enough, he reached out with his right hand to grasp hold of his weapon of choice.

"THIS!" Ash declared proudly as he held the staff up high to the heavens above.

_The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the form you seek?_

The teenager could only nod his head for a yes at that trivial question. Without even batting an eye, the staff vanished at that very instant in his right hand in a flash of white; it caused the Pokémon Trainer to take a step back in confusion. He blinked his eyes as if he was wondering if they weren't playing tricks with him, or did he really just seen his choice just disappear before his very eyes.

The latter was sadly the most promising to say the least. Especially when the kind voice spoke up with...

_Your path is set. Now which one would you give up in exchange?_

"GIVE UP?!" Ash complained quite loudly as he flung his hands to the sides of his head, his voice ricocheting off of the walls from how loud he sounded. "Aww man, you're not making this easy for me, are you?" He groaned out defiantly as he brought his arms back down from his face; he turned to look at the two remaining items, which were the sword and shield. He grumbled a bit as he looked at the two weapons. "Alright, which one should I give up?"

The question was rather mundane for him once he thought about it after he spoke it out loud; the raven-haired prodigy didn't need to think this through on which one he needs to choose. He knew it in his heart this time on what he had to do; he went right up to the location of the sword and reached out to grab hold of its blue handle with his right hand.

"I'll give up THIS!" Ash declared as he quickly raised the sword off of its spot towards the sky, a cold frown upon his face when glaring daggers at said weapon. "For I'm not much of a swordsman." A bead of sweat suddenly rolled down from his left brow. "And boy did that sound more mundane than my mundane question."

But truth be told on the actual honesty in his heart, Ash could recall back on the times when mere power would corrupt someone so easily, especially when a certain kind of artifact, or Legendary Pokémon, of untold power came into play. He has seen it happen before with a select few of people and, by some standards, Pokémon over negative emotions, evil intentions, lust for revenge or power, and sometimes, broken promises. But some people with cold hearts are foolish enough to ask for such untamed power in the first place.

The darkness in one's heart is absolutely terrifying for the sixteen-year-old child to imagine, but he masks it well hidden with his bravery, and the light inside his heart to conquer his fears.

He shook his head about to not think back on that certain kind of memory of his, one so bad and dark it would literally send a shiver down his spine and beyond. Just then, as if it was a wish from up above came true, the squeaky-type voice came back to snap him out of his thoughts.

_The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. You give up this power?_

Throwing caution to the winds, the Kantonian of Pallet Town nodded his head again for a positive reply with no second thoughts, even if it does sound a little promising on the courage part. He didn't want to pick something he doesn't feel too proud with, or if it does not clash with his personality and character. Similar to what had happened to the staff, the sword in his right palm disappeared, and this time, he didn't recoil back over the white flash, or that said weapon had vaporized right before his slightly agitated vision again.

_You've chosen the power of the mystic. You've given up the power of the warrior. Is this the form you choose?_

"You bet I am!" Ash answered casually, a nod of his head was an added bonus on his verification. The wise voice of his dream replied back with some wise words of his own.

_Good. Your first trial is complete._

Ash's eyes widened like saucer plates as he yelped out. "WAIT WHAT?!"

_Your second trial is about to begin._

"My second WHAT?!" Ash chirped out loudly for his shout to rebound off of the walls of darkness. He blinked his pair of eyes with confusion yet again. "What have I gotten myself into now?" Suddenly, another flash came bursting from behind him and he whirled around on his own bare feet, surprised to see the large shield was gone too, but replaced with something new for his eyes to see. "WHAT THE..."

**End of Part 1**

**Author's Note ~ Don't you just hate it when the first chapter ends off in a cliffhanger? What has our unlikely hero just witnessed from where the Dream Shield once stood? Stay tuned to the next chapter of 'Ash's Awakening' to find out. Yeah, its gonna be like how '****Kingdom Hearts: The Traversing Thunderbolt**' was on having three parts of the 'Dive to the Heart' scene, but maybe it will be two parts than three but time will tell.

**Anyways, the mural, which is gonna be the current one for Ash so far in this story, is based on the red mural in 'Kingdom Hearts II' that Roxas encountered with in his 'Dive to the Heart', but only replacing the images of Sora and his world with Ash's own instead. And boy, it was sure easy to think on what to use for Ash's mural on thinking on the things, majorly around the Kanto and Orange Archipelago arc, that are the most previous to him, and that includes the GS Ball and his old Kanto League hat's symbol. Plus, his favorite color is red as heard on the internet, just like how some, like me; believe Ash to be sixteen and not ten in the Unova arc.**

**Okay, I finally decided to let Ash use the staff this time than the sword, for it does seem to fit him more and he is getting a Keyblade for crying out loud. I don't know why I was so much of an idiot to let our hero wield something he wasn't fond of, after what happened in the Pokémon anime.**

**Anyways, before I close up and start the next chapter, I'd like to say to you to please review and tell me what you think of this chapter. Flames will be used to light up my parents' gas lamps and candles.**

**This is Kingdom Infinite, signing off!**


	2. Dreamy Questions all for a Chest Fight?

**Author's Note ~ Okay, I want to say on the previous chapter, I was going to mention a whole list of characters from the anime, who were on the antagonist side, on the paragraph of Ash thinking back on what power does to you. But I decided to not add it in for it would take too long, and true fans of Pokémon will know who they are, or those who look it up on the internet, as always.**

**And another funny story on the first chapter, I was gonna mention the backstory on the GS Ball, like I did for the quick backstory on Ash and Pikachu's friendship. But I decided to leave it be, for another chapter over special reasons regarding no one else, but solely me, for it's my story and I want my readers to be in for a whirl of wonder. Plus, the one on Ash and Pikachu's friendship wasn't going to be in that chapter, but I had second thoughts for it and I did a few modifications, so its other part can appear on another chapter, like where the backstory on the GS Ball will take place.**

**And another thing, remember I might add parts on Ash's voice going off as a echo sometimes, but remember it always echoes here in the 'Dive to the Heart', or anywhere worth a echo or another sound effect, yet I don't want to point it out all the time. It does get tedious for me, for it lowers my chances of finishing this chapter quickly; same goes for some of the paragraphs when they aren't needed. Oh also, sometimes there will be funny moments in the dialogues to each and every chapter, I may not be good at comedy, but I damn try to be good with it.**

**Anyways, with that out of the way, let us go in and dive to this second part of 'Ash's Awakening' shall we?**

**CHAPTER 2: Ash's Awakening, Dreamy Questions all for a Chest Fight?**

There before his hazel eyes, positioned perfectly on the spot from where the Dream Shield once floated before, was now a simple-looking treasure chest, one at the right size of being considered the real deal, minus the given coloration. The wooden surface was flecked off in the vivid colors of the rainbow, which was already making up wavy patterns with each and every second going by in any possible direction, like as if they were painted up with magical paint to begin with. However, what didn't seem too magical on this rainbow-colored chest were the edges; they were tapered off with broad golden lines. The corners right close to the chest's opening had the designs of a three pointed crown, along with one of them surrounding the simple golden-colored keyhole, stuck right on the top of its only capable orifice.

It was as magnificently crafted as the circular platform the boy was standing on. But he held a unique way of showing out his emotions on this unique object.

"**WAAAAAA!**" Ash screamed as his echo pounded off of the dark walls like a beating drum. "It's a..." He then trailed off at that exact same moment, all shock in him going away as he took a good look at what surprised him. "Treasure chest?" He asked with disbelief eminent in his tone of voice.

It was an unusual sight to behold, especially in a dream like no other.

But the Kantonian of Pallet Town could honestly say it's not like anything he's ever seen before, since the time when he was in the Sinnoh region with his other two closest friends, Brock and Dawn. They had altogether shared a dream manifested by the Lake Trio, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie. The three beings used their psychic powers to create forth an ethereal dream-like world for only for Ash and his two friends to see, they forewarned them about the imminent danger about to fall upon their world of Pokétopia, under the destructive, yet so far, capable hands of Team Galactic and their evil leader, Cyrus.

The blue-haired businessman wanted to use the Lake Guardians to call forth the deities of time and space, Dialga and Palkia, to create a new world void of any impurities, like war and hatred to name a few. But at the price of it being all for himself, and for no one else at all, and not even his own subordinates were allowed to venture through with him to their promise world. And all because Cyrus believed he's the only one worthy enough for that new world of his, for he believes he's the only one pure enough to go to that scared place of his own creation. But it only sealed the megalomaniac's fate in an incomplete world of nothing but pure chaos, unable to return back to the world he had left for his own selfish desires.

Ash was thankful as he is for not being as deluded as Cyrus; chasing pure solitude instead of purity was an image not of his own liking. It was a bad thing to do, and the prodigy of Pallet didn't want it to happen to him at all. He was really thankful of being smart enough to not to try a stunt like that, for pursuing something that can lead you to your own downfall was bad, just like to what any kind of corrupt official and criminal has done before on Pokétopia.

Past or present.

And even thou from that strange experience, other moments of strangeness did happen to him, wherever he and his friends may go on their adventures. No matter what continent or island, city or town, mountain or cave, ocean or stream, forest or plains, anywhere was a sign of something out of the ordinary to come, and rear its ugly head for them to encounter with. It was as if an invisible force of cosmic nature, known to no one as of now, was following him around from time to time, causing multiple situations for any of his traveling companions to face along with him and Pikachu.

Frankly, Ash couldn't consider a magical-looking treasure chest with parts off of a still moving rainbow to be unnatural, especially since when he was standing on top of a stained-glass floor of his favorite color. That was covered up with images of the people closest to his heart, his first batch of Pokémon, and even his younger self fast asleep in the dead center, with a nightly view of his house from above. And not to forget, on the part of the teenager actively being in one of his own dreams, for crying out loud.

It was as if saying a Meowth with a speech pattern of a human and can stand on two feet, like anyone else worth living with the ability of standing on a pair of legs, was considered to be extremely taboo, especially one with a odd drawl in his tone as being the third member of the once idiotic, now fiendishly clever and serious, trio of Team Rocket.

Reality or not.

The sixteen-year-old Kantonian didn't care on what that conundrum was anymore, mostly on what he has seen for the past few years of his adolescent life. He has seen many things before in his past life up until now; each one was either kind of strange, unique, dangerous, insane, or just plain bad to the bone. But it has to be seen to be believed by all, especially like himself and his merry band of friends, family, and even his own enemies and rivals too.

But now is not the time of reminiscing back on the good ol' days of his life.

Ash blinked his pair of eyes rapidly without skipping beat; he turned to face the readers with a deadpan look upon his face. "Seriously?" He turned to face back at the only thing on the platform. "I thought something cool would have replaced the shield when it went POOF! Not some kind of treasure chest made of rainbows." He stared at the chest for only for ten whole seconds, not knowing how to react to this new find.

Just then, after the tenth second had passed by, a familiar sounding voice of wise spoke up so suddenly from out of the pure darkness of the sky to the child.

_Welcome to your second trial._

"Oh." Ash could only say, without a jump of surprise in his step. He cocked his head up to the darken sky above. "It's you again." He smiled gently as he received a light chuckle from the high-pitched voice in return; he brought his head back down to a normal angle of his neck. "So, uhh...what is my second trial about?"

_Very well, you've been given the right to fight for the light._

But before the raven-haired boy could say anything else of how the voice just rhymed away like that. He didn't had the time or chance to even speak up as a flash of white suddenly erupted in his right palm; he could only stare with silence as he closed his eyes from the light's glare. It only took him five seconds, before the Pokémon Trainer of Kanto could see the light slowly fading away from the thin layers of his eyelids; he slowly opened his pair of hazel eyes to see what he was holding in his right hand as of now. He was clearly amazed, when his vision was finally clear enough to see before himself, he found the gift bestowed upon him was the same thing he chose before on his first test.

It was none other than the Dream Rod.

"Whoa!" Ash gasped ever so softly as he held on to the staff's handle with added firmness. "You again?"

_Use this power to defend yourself and others._

Ash then proceeded to look up to where the treasure chest was, and asked forth with. "Okay, so uhh..." He started to trail off as he looked around to his surroundings and found nothing, except for the rainbow-colored chest before him. "What am I supposed to fight off with again?"

The squeaky-type voice spoke up in a low-key tone of voice with...

_This._

Suddenly acting as if it's not an inanimate object anymore, the treasure chest started to spin and bound in place from where it stood on the glass floor, without even shattering the foundation apart with its vigorous movement.

"Uhhh...I hope that ain't the sign of something bad about to happen?" Ash cringed a little sheepishly, his own two pair of feet shuffling in place in the process from the chest's bouncing; he placed his left hand on the staff once he brought it up to his face.

As if on cue, the chest started to sprout out a set of six, spindly legs from out of its lower end, when it was only in the air at the time. Each one was like similar to the leg of a Spinarak, a poisonous Pokémon with the form of an infantile spider, only with these legs being as skinny and long as a bamboo shoot, and segmented at certain joints, like as if they were made of petrified bones. They were even painted up in a burnt pearl color, instead of being striped yellow and black, akin to the true colors of a Spinarak's legs.

But they more so resembled the legs of an octopus, or even an old-time camera stand, than an Spinarak from where they were positioned on the creature.

When the demonic chest struck down on the glass platform below, a loud thump was heard accompanying it with its touchdown, as the glass beneath it shook about, but did not break apart upon its hard impact. Ash stumbled back a bit from the created shockwave, but he held his ground at the upcoming scenario, along with the Dream Rod in his almost sweaty palms. The animated chest rose up on its six legs to their full height, which seemed to be reaching up a bit more from the young prodigy's given height, before creaking them down a bit, as if to act as if they were really much of a spider's legs to begin with.

It now reached up only halfway of his previous height, mostly to the boy's waist, to show off its top more clearly to him.

And exactly, from where it would open up for anyone to see it spilling on out its glorious, shining treasure, the teen could clearly see only the insides of a mouth, a pasty tongue and uvula, hidden within a jagged maw of sharp wooden teeth. A single orb of yellow bore right through the darkness of the keyhole, acting as an eye as it gazed right into the very soul of the human youth before it.

"Yep, it's the sign of something bad about to happen." Ash announced as bullets of sweat appeared all over his face. He was feeling a little fearful of the spider-legged chest's bizarre appearance, but he held on to the Dream Rod with all of his might from letting it slip his grasp, due to the sweat. He eyed the creature before him with frigid horror and curiosity as he asked with. "What the heck are you?"

The chest monster, who shall be as of now known as the Possessed Treasure, gurgled out its only response to the Chosen One of Lugia's question.

"**Grrrr!**"

Ash gave a deadpan look and commented with. "Of course, you won't tell me for you lack a brain." He shot his eyes wide open from his own remark, and said the only thing worth saying at the very moment. "Uhhhm...oops."

"**HISSSSSS!**"

A fierce hiss escaped from the thin cracks of the arthropod's 'v'-shaped maw. The Pokémon Trainer could honestly say his apology wasn't accepted by the monster.

'_Me and my big mouth stirring up trouble yet again._' Ash thought sourly with a scared look across his facial features.

It took only a second for him to process on what is going on here with this situation.

"Okay, so now I have to beat up a possessed treasure chest with the intent on killing me?" Ash asked as he watched on at the enchanted chest getting its spider-like legs in gear. "No problem." He said in a sarcastic tone of voice, but it held back his own fear in a low attempt. He shook his head about to beat the sweat off of his face, somehow getting it off of his once sweaty palms as well. He quickly motioned both of his arms and hands for the staff to be on his right side, as if it were a baseball bat, while taking a simple step back as he got ready.

The motion only got the combatant to be more motivated for the upcoming brawl to handle with.

Getting into a pose similar to a creature about to pounce on its victim, the rainbow-colored arachnid hissed lowly towards him as its front legs sprayed downwards, while the ones from its back were going on more on the upright position.

Dream or not, this was way more like a nightmare with this abomination.

The monstrous chest seemed eager enough to leap up and chomp its set of wooden fangs down on his young, tender flesh. It started to growl lowly as if waiting for the raven-haired Kantonian to make his first move, but he felt a little bit under the weather from gazing at this dream-like creature of a treasure chest. Ash's body shook a little like a wilted leaf, one about to break down to tiny dust-sized particles from the slightest friction of the harsh wind on a stormy weather.

"How can I do this without getting myself killed?" Ash asked for no one in particular with fright. He doesn't like the feeling he was receiving in his gut, betraying him for some odd reason by saying he should just give it his all.

But before he could say or think of anything else, the kind voice of wisdom came back to somewhat soothe the fear locked inside the teenager's heart.

_You won't die in your own dreams. But in order for you to complete this trial, you have to fight the Possessed Treasure in order to progress through to the next trial._

Suffice to say, Ash does feel like the advice from the caring voice did help him out to calm his nerves, but only for a small amount over fear still being inside of him. But now was not the time of his fright to over come him, as there was another agenda to be solved. It was more important for it was already on the boy's mind.

'_Easy said than done when you have no fighting experience, other than Pokémon Battles, whatsoever._' Ash thought as he stared at the Possessed Treasure, still hissing away at him while creaking its limbs up and down for a quick burst of speed, or for a high jump.

Just then he remembered back on the advice the squeaky-type voice once told him before, which gave him some well needed motivation for his general puzzlement.

_Use this power to defend yourself and others._

Ash's brain felt as if a ton of bricks landed on it over how stupid he reacted on overlooking the wise voice's words, after all the voice did help him feel better about this situation. And no matter how scared he was, he should give it his all for he had nothing left to lose, except for his own sanity in this strange dream world of his.

But then something right there clicked in his mind, one that aroused him now as an unknown sensation he couldn't explain came upon him, like a rush of pure raw energy, to go forth with it now.

'_I dunno why, but I feel like I should go up and destroy that treasure chest thing, for the good of everything I know and love. Besides, it's just an animated object with the burnt, skinny legs of a bleached Spinarak, and it doesn't have a soul...I think. But then again, this isn't a Pokémon to begin with._'

Throwing caution to the winds and giving it his very best, he swiftly brought forth the staff in his two hands to be above his head. His face contrasted to one of fierce determination as he moved forward, as fast as he can be, for the animated chest before his sights. All the while, he gave off an exhilarating war cry as he ran, which sounded like...

"**WAA-HAAHHHHHHHHHH!**"

With the sound of his yell going off of the darken walls, the spider-legged creature soon took a mad dash for the sixteen-year-old prodigy as well, springing on its six legs and clasping its jaws open and closed. It gave off the chomping impression in a vigorous way, for the attempt of biting him to bits. Ash then skidded to a halt on his bare feet of his own charging to lose the face of determination, fear overtaking him within a snap. He turned around on the glassed ground and started to run, and did the other natural thing to do on a crisis like this one.

"**WAAAAAAAAAAAA!**" Ash yelled out with all of his might, his voice ricocheting off of the pitch-black walls, for as to how far he was screaming when he ran away. He didn't let go of the Dream Rod in his hands the whole time, cradling like as if it were his baby, while the Possessed Treasure was hot on his heels. He chanted in his mind an out of this world madness mantra of. '_Oh my Arceus! Oh my Arceus! Oh my Arceus! Oh my Arceus!_'

The demonic chest chattered away madly with its 'v'-shaped teeth for something to chew on, mostly the Pokémon Trainer of Pallet Town, who was currently running around close to the edge of the stained-glass mural. Its pointed limbs made a clicking sound as it goes across the glass floor, chasing after the raven-haired boy the whole way.

Ash's screaming died down as he started to gasp out. "Talk about running away from a fight." He started to ponder on his own cowardice as he continued to run. '_I can't believe I upped and ran for it. This isn't like me. This is SO unlike me. I can't back away from a living chest with sharp teeth; I was never scared of anything with such a scary disposition before._' He suddenly turned his head around when he felt an odd sensation coming over his body. And also for the fact of him hearing an unknown noise at the same time; his eyes grew wide as saucer plates from what he saw. "Whoa!"

"**Rawr!**"

Ash reacted quickly on time to jump out of the way; the monster chest almost collided with him with its charge attack. Its spindly legs frantically tapping away on the floor as it skidded to a halt, trying not to fall over the edge of the circular platform, before spinning around in place to stare down at the teenager's very soul.

The Chosen One of Lugia slowly backed away with a single step, his hands grasping tightly over the handle of the staff, as he softly glared at the wooden monstrosity before him. The Possessed Treasure sputtered a bit with its growl before charging yet again at him, only Ash jumped dodge out of the way from the attack, and the same process repeated again.

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat, for only five times in a row with the same result as before, Ash evading each and every one of the charge attacks, sometimes he would pound his staff's head anywhere on the arachnid's wooden body when he had the chance too. After when they both got their last attempt with charging and dodging over with, they stood there right on the middle of the mural floor. But now would be a little more different, for the chest monster has had enough of the same old tactic, and not getting the chance of a nibble on its human target.

"**Grrrrr!**"

With a low-key growl and crouching down to the ground again, the Possessed Treasure jumped up, via. the use of its six legs, in a single bound to reach up for the ebony heavens above, hovering only ten feet in the air over Ash's observing form. He could clearly see what it was thinking on doing now, when elongating and curling its legs up together to resemble a drill bit, or more so to a spearhead.

'_So it wants to skewer me whole now, huh?_' Ash thought as he saw it descend upon him. Time started to slow down around him as he started to do one of those rare things again; he calculated a formula with his staff and the falling monster above him. Like a hive of busy Combee finding the right solution to inform their Vespiquen, the Kantonian got the right idea to be done as time regained back its former tempo. '_I got it!_' He let loose a low grunt from out of his lips. "**Ughh!**"

Especially for what he was about to do.

With a quick burst of speed and reflexes unlike anyone has ever seen before, Ash swung the staff around rapidly in a circle formation, like as if it was a pinwheel, or a cheerleader's baton, before its found being held in his right hand on the opposite end.

"Okay, here goes nothing you wooden creep! **HIYAAAAH!**" Ash cried as he flung the Dream Rod with now renewed courage at the rainbow-colored abomination. Slicing through the air like a knife drawn through butter, the narrow tip of the staff seemingly locked on at a precise, pressure point of the descending monstrosity of a chest.

**SPLURT!**

"**RWAAAAARRR!**"

The tip instantly made its mark on its only target, the keyhole-shaped eye of the Possessed Treasure. The monstrous chest roared in pain as a spray of yellow-colored goop, blew out of its singular socket like a macabre geyser. Its six legs bursting out of its former stance to rattle around wildly as it crashed down on the mural floorboard, without breaking the surface yet again. Its leg sprawled on out of the central floor in a broken position, one of them being cracked apart beyond repair. Pasty-looking ochre seeped on out of the keyhole-shaped socket so thick; it was almost sickening to watch, like as if it was actual blood coming out of its wounded eye. The monster's maw clamped shut when it was done with screaming loudly from its agonizing pain.

And the boy didn't even flinch the whole way from watching on at the grueling sight, Ash didn't seem too scared out of his wits end at all. He actually felt really happy for himself on what he has accomplished.

"Bullseye on the mark, baby!" Ash grinned loosely as he did an odd imitation, one with closing his left eye and touching the bridge of his nose with his left hand's thumb.

The rainbow colors on the chest creature's body started to lose its former luster, its once vivid sheen turned to one of dullness, as it slowly lurched backwards with the yellow substance leaking all over its frame. The Dream Rod slid on out of its former stuck position to rattle and roll across the surface towards its former holder, who carefully picked it up on its slender handle where no gunk was found on. The Possessed Treasure fell on its wooden back on the floor with a loud thump, splattering in its own gooey fluid to fly off only a short distance in length. And it seems the odd color of its blood did not seem to faze the prodigy of Kanto at all, not like the next person would be to see it, if there ever was a squeamish type of person for blood of another color to be real.

"Okay." Ash started off calmly as he looked down on the Dream Rod in his hands, before going forth with pulling his right hand away from the handle, and starting to rub off any of the gunk on its smooth, or rough, surface as he continued to talk. "That one-hit KO attack to the eye was a little bit on the anticlimactic side there. I didn't know it was THAT effective, but it did make my treasure busting time more easy to be done." After cleaning up the last bit of filth, he inspected his weapon for any more of those goop stains he might have forgotten about. Finding none, he stopped what he was doing to hold the staff in his left hand, before bringing it back down to his side. "Now all I have to do is whack it to bits and..." He trailed off when a glow of pure gold started to come over his vision. He quickly looked up and his eyes grew wide again. "WHAT?!"

The sound of his voice bounding off the walls of darkness was nothing to complain about, especially on what he saw. A grand-looking door, made of nothing but wood of a baby pink color, golden-colored frames and hinges, and two silver doorknobs, stood there right before Ash from where the Possessed Treasure once laid broken. No indication of where the wooden arthropod, or its ochre, went as the double-sided door only stood there tall and impervious. Sparkles of golden dust emanated from around the door, like as if it was silently beckoning for the sixteen-year-old child to go up and open it, and come inside to see what would await him on the other end.

Ash could only blink his pair of hazel eyes at the sight, wondering how something so big can easily be missed by him, without any explanation to be known whatsoever. The staff in his left hand vanished in a quick glimmer of white, hardly spooking him out of his trance, as his vision was more connected on the mysterious appearance of the door of pink. He got over the shock in him when he shook his head about to make it all clear for himself to think.

"How did I miss that? And where did that chest go?" Ash asked with serene blabbering confusion. He looked around at his surroundings and found no answer to his important question. "Well, wherever it went when I wasn't looking, I hope I won't ever get to see it again."

Just then the ever caring high-pitched voice came back to his head, speaking up in his brain cells with some new words of wisdom.

_The door has been opened. Go ahead and open it up to see what awaits you on your next trial._

Ash blinked his eyes at what he heard from the voice and spoke up with. "So beyond that door is where my third trial will be taking place?" He asked to no one in particular, before he gave the readers a subtle glance. "I guess THAT must be the door the voice was talking about before, huh?" He gained a tiny smirk upon his face as he looked back ahead of him, before he went ahead with walking up to the grand door. He reached out with his right palm to grab hold of one of the two doorknobs closest to him; and right as he twisted the knob and pulled it right towards him to be wide open. A burst of yellow light poured on out of the door when it was opened up and instantly burned, or rather blinded, the teen's sights as he gasped out loudly. "WHOA!"

The light from the opening door was so bright to see anything from the inside, and without any second thoughts, Ash slowly went ahead into the beckoning wall of pure light, his arms coming over his face to shield his pair of eyes from any more harm. It was as if he were hypnotized by some cosmic force of unknown origin, but he wasn't, for he was able to move his body parts with each movement used, and yet he was so curious to find out what was on the other side of this sparkling door.

It was as if it were fate, and fate alone, to enter this doorway of light.

The door quickly yet quietly shut behind the Kantonian when his entire person was inside of the wall of light. The next minute of his simple yet extraordinary dream-like state, Ash felt his eyes regaining back their regular sight as he slowly opened them up, softly groaning along with the process when opening up his eyelids.

"**UUGGHHHHHH!**"

He was partly blinded from what was left of the blinding light coming over his vision, before it slowly faded away a second later back to its former brightness, but a bit more on the vivid shade than what he had first thought of it to be. The world around him was then revealed to be anew to his general surprise of the sight.

The sky above wasn't black anymore but in a bright azure color instead, the sun shone bright and early to cover up the place in a moderate warmth level. It was somewhere close in the afternoon from where the sun's point of view was in the heavens, no clouds was seen so far, and yet the Pokémon Trainer felt a gentle breeze brush on past his fine set of spiky hair. The floor was uneven and lumpy; Ash looked down to see he was standing on a ground overflowing with acres of verdant grass. He shot his hazel eyes up and looked around to see nothing more, but only large oak trees surrounding him from every which way, except none of them piercing the circular-made clearing he found himself in. He didn't know where he was for this place seemed too unnatural to his world of Pokétopia, like as if this place was made up similar to the stained-glass world he first found himself in.

He could only think that this forest was probably unknown to many on any map system for being unexplored, or maybe this is just a figment of his overactive imagination, like everything else he witnessed here before.

"Where the heck am I?" Ash asked in confusion, darting his head from left to right at the mass grove of vibrant trees surrounding him.

The voice of both kindness and wisdom suddenly piped up from out of the blue to say something crucial.

_Welcome to your third trial. Time to see what your heart truly speaks out. Beware of what the illusions might say to you, for the only truth is really known inside your heart._

Right then the raven-haired prodigy noticed something, or someone, appearing right from out of the shadows of the looming foliage, evident by the sound of shoes trampling down on the field of grass. He quickly snapped his head up to see a amazing sight that made him hardly gasp out a audible one, for walking only a yard away right up to him were three people, ones he clearly knew so far for being so very close to his heart. Which were the same ones being on the mural's stained-glass surface, from the very beginning of this crazy dream of his.

They were none other than Misty Waterflower, Professor Oak, and Ash's very own mother, Delia Ketchum.

"Mom? Professor Oak? And...Misty?" Ash blurted out in surprise as the three figures came closer to him, before long they cornered him in a triangular-like fashion. He twisted his upper body and neck around to gaze at all three of them, as he softly demanded them with his question. "What're you three doing here in my dream?!"

He suddenly blinked his pair of eyes, noticing something off of them, it was the lack of emotions masking over their faces that gave it away. He noted that each one of them had a neutral line for a mouth, no smile or frown visible, their eyes were blank and void of any life, like as if they were a simple puppet controlled by psychic forces to manipulate them to move about. But then the sixteen-year-old boy remembered back on what the squeaky-type voice once told him before.

_Beware of what the illusions might say to you, for the only truth is really known inside your heart._

'_So they're just illusions of the people closest to my heart?_' Ash thought with a loss for words, not believing that the ones he'd loved were optical illusions, mere figments to the will of his dream's bizarre creations.

And yet, Ash and his friends had encountered some Pokémon, especially psychic-types, ghost-types, dark-types, and rarely a Pokémon of another type even, before with the power of creating illusions and mirages, both in their dreams or not, in a whim of their unnatural power to cause problems or excitement. So the idea of seeing humans, who were only a figment of his imagination, isn't a complete oddity for the teenager.

But then again...

'_They look so real...except for the zombie stares their giving me, which is creeping the Pokéballs outta me._' Ash thought, a slight shiver of fear going down his spine from gazing at their glazed over eyes for far too long. '_This dream is seriously not right._'

"What do you look forward for in life?" Misty questioned him in a monotonous tone of voice. Ash blinked his hazel eyes at her, before shrugging his shoulders, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary for a crazy dream to dish on out to him, especially with something as bizarre as this.

Truthfully enough, Ash gave a big toothy smile as he answered her with. "Easy! Going out on an adventure and being alive!"

"Do you really THINK you can pick BOTH instead of just one?" Misty scoffed harshly to him from her spot, but the Chosen One of Lugia only nodded his head to her.

"Yeah, why not? They count like the same thing." Ash replied honestly to her, smiling all the way as he continued on to explain his important reasons. "Being alive is like an adventure. How we live with it. How we take care of the ones we love. How we give respect to one another, like ourselves and our Pokémon. And even too how we take our first step in each day, it's all but one big adventure."

"What are you afraid of?" Professor Oak asked blankly up to him with that same expressionless face as Misty's own. The answer for that question was rather a bit on the negative side.

"Not knowing who my dad is!" Ash stated calmly to him with a small tint of sadness in his tone. He lowered his head down a bit as his dark cyan hair shielded his eyes, a mask of shadows covering them up to conceal the sorrow laced in them. He sadly continued on to say with. "And if, he's still alive."

The fact on answering that question made him feel a little moody, for it was something hidden away in the back of his head, something he doesn't want to think about for it could sprout out ugly thoughts, like death or something much worse. Ash didn't want to think on the worse of everyday life but to what happened to his dad; he couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness and fear gripping tightly around his own warm heart.

'_I hope one day, we'll be a family again. Mom and I will be really grateful if you come back...dad._'

A shiny glint sparkled from within the shadowy veil of his concealed eyes; a single tear didn't roll off from his cheeks to the glassed floor below to begin with.

"Your missing father is your worst fear in life, hmmm?" Professor Oak mused soullessly up for him, breaking his melodic thoughts away at that instant. Ash quickly snapped his head up, splattering the revealing tears around his pair of eyes away from the force of his neck's movement, some still dampening his lower eyelids.

There was one thing that stood out that Ash knows isn't true on that simple thought of his father. He knew he couldn't be dead. He must be as strong as he is, and he hopes for one day.

Just one day.

Just one day out of a million.

He'll get to see him again and possibly find out the answers of his mysterious disappearance, and why he did it in the first place, without even saying anything to him or his mother.

But nevertheless, Ash used the back of his left hand to wipe away the salty tears from his hazel eyes, before nodding his head to the weathered professor.

"Of course!" Ash declared to him without skipping a single beat, but the sound of sadness still came out of his mouth as he said that. He shook his head about to stir away his sorrow as he gave off a faint smile, as he continued on to say with. "But I can't stay negative; I know my dad can't be dead, for he must be as strong as I am."

Lastly, Delia spoke up with lack of any emotion on her trivial question to him. "What is your greatest wish?"

"My greatest wish?" Ash mused quietly; a sense of wonder came upon him as he thought on over that question. A second later, he got his answer as a great big smile, one that can send a Gengar running for its money, came upon his face as he blissfully answered her. "To become the greatest Pokémon Master!"

"Do you really THINK you can earn THAT title that easy?" Delia chided harshly with her question to him, hardly a care in the world for poking such heartlessness towards him.

"I know it won't be easy." Ash declared to her, without taking into account on her dream mother's spiteful attitude. He was oh so relaxed when he continued on to say. "But yeah, I think I can earn it if I really try my best!"

Just then the high-pitched male voice came back to speak in Ash's ever present ears.

_You thrive greatly on everyday life. You're afraid of your own father's absence. You want to be the very best, no matter what life throws at you. Your third trial is done. Prepare for the final one._

Right then after hearing that declaration from the squeaky-type voice, the unexplained happened before his very eyes. The illusions of the three people closest to the Kantonian's heart started to change to a translucent aura, glowing faintly in a light blue color as the imposters slowly faded away from existence.

All within a snap of five seconds flat.

This caught a surprised-looking Ash off guard, for he didn't suspect that would happen to the figments of his dream world in the first place. He didn't really much think they would vanish without a trace before him in this dream forest, but then again they were illusions, created not by a Pokémon with illusion powers, to begin with. And yet he couldn't shake off the sinking feeling he was getting on in his brain cells of his current situation.

He was all alone now; nobody except for the green grass, tall trees and the blue sky above to keep him company. The dream forest of unknown origins was the only thing to be a strange friend of his in his current loneliness.

But before he could do anything, he was yet again caught off guard by a quick as a flash of the world changing around him once more. Ash saw that what was left of the place he once found himself in for the third trial, pretty much starting to dissolve away, like they were made of nothing more but multicolored sand on a rainbow-colored seashore of some fantasy land. The colorful particles soon scattered off to any direction they could find, aided solely by the drifting breeze going in the air currents, which was soundless and could only be felt by the boy's skin and his dark cyan hair. The calm wind suddenly dropped down once the vivid colors of the dream forest were all replaced with something awfully familiar to him.

An obsidian sky of pure nothingness instead of a bright azure one with no present sun.

A thick wall of darkness rather than a towering wall of oaks.

A ground made of colorful glass instead of grass from where his uncovered toes and heels were touching on.

He was back at the same place when he did his first and second trials. Everything was back the same way before any of his trials had begun. And yet he has to wonder on something crucial as of now.

What is the fourth one going to be like for him?

**End of Part 2**

**Author's Note ~ What will happen next for our unlikely hero? What is his final test gonna be like? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out! And I think all of you thought Ash would have fought a Shadow Heartless, right? Well no, sorry, but I think a Heartless of my own design would do just fine for our unlikely wielder.**

**And yet, he will face yet again another one of my original Heartless in the next chapter. Yeah, I know, the battle was, as Ash would put it in this chapter, anticlimactic then how it should have been at first, but fight scenes aren't my easiest things to do so. And I think of him landing a one-hit KO attack on the Possessed Treasure was funny, unpredictable and anticlimactic, but funny.**

**Also, I wanted to call the Dream Rod in this story as the Dream Staff, but I wanted it to be true to its English name, just like how it goes for the Dream Shield and Dream Sword. The Dream Rod's name stays, even if I don't like it. Also, the Possessed Treasure was supposed to be called the Manic Treasure from the start and have eight legs, but I decided to change the name to this current one for it felt kinda silly, and even freaky. And Its eight legs came to be six, once I think it should be so in the first place of the story when I was working with the second chapter.**

**Anyways, before I close up and start the next chapter, I'd like to say to you to please review and tell me what you think of this chapter. Flames will be used to light up my parents' gas lamps and candles.**

**This is Kingdom Infinite, signing off!**


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